Facebook Inc. launched its Instant Articles publishing platform earlier this year with no shortage of hype and fanfare. The system, which allowed publishers to host interactive stories directly on Facebook servers rather than link to the content on their own sites resulted in strong feelings from both its supporters and its detractors. It was heralded as the savior of the news industry, and it was demonized as the final nail in the news industry’s coffin. And then everything went silent. The introductory instant articles were impressive, but nothing followed. We were given a taste to get our mouths watering, but now, nearly five months later, we’re still waiting for the main course. Thankfully, the wait is almost over. Unfortunately, the coming news feast won’t be as succulent as the previous samples were.

Earlier this week, Facebook announced that it had signed 23 new instant article publishing partners, bringing the total to 32. That’s a lot of content. The Washington Post committed to using Facebook’s platform to publish all 1,200+ of its daily news stories. That’s a whole Hell of a lot of content. Therein lies the problem. It’s too much content. Or to be more specific, it’s very likely too much content to be able to give all of it the full Instant Article treatment. Facebook touts the speed in which Instant Articles load as one of its main advantages. I disagree. It’s only slightly faster than linking to the article on the web. I would argue that the only significant advantage is the slick in-app presentation. The seamless combination of video content, with text, images, and interactive elements is what makes Instant Articles special. It takes time to produce all the individual elements and put them together to tell a story. I don’t expect that we’ll see 1,200 fully produced Instant Articles every day. Most of them will probably be bare bones news items. If that’s the case, it will diminish the Instant Articles brand. With such a powerful storytelling tool, it would have been beneficial for Facebook to limit the number of articles posted, or at least require publishers to utilize all the available features. They should have taken precautions to keep Instant Articles special. Facebook isn’t alone. Apple Inc. made a similar mistake with its recently released News App.

With the release of iOS 9, iDevice users were introduced to Apple’s News Apps. Like Facebook, Apple hosts content from publishers on its own servers, and displays it quickly within the app, rather than opening a web link in a browser. If you use the app, you might wonder what makes it special. The answer, for the most part, is nothing. A typical article from the app consists of a headline, a header image, and the text of the article. It’s no different than what you’d see if you read it on the publisher’s website. What’s the point of it? You need to tap on the Apple News Updates tab to find out. The article titled “A New Mobile Reading Experiences” was the only evidence I could find of Apple’s true ambitions. It explains what Apple News is capable of, and even links to several stories that show off those features. A story by CNN titled “How to drive the ultimate American roadtrip” looks absolutely stunning in Apple News. Mt. Rushmore can be seen behind the title, with clouds continuously flowing overhead. The user interface is elegant. Had I not stumbled across the link, I wouldn’t have opened Apple News again. The typical articles were not at all captivating. Apple should have ensured that Apple News items maintained a certain production value. Otherwise, users may get bored, and assume that all the articles are static and uninteresting.

Who can Facebook and Apple look to for advice on how to do the news? Snapchat appears to have it all figured out. Its Discover section within the app lists 14 content partners. They each produce their own, daily, interactive content. It’s extremely exclusive, with Yahoo and Warner Music Group getting booted from the lineup earlier this year for not producing enough unique content. Every piece of content is designed specifically for Snapchat. Users won’t ever feel like a story from one of the Discover partners is a simple copy and paste job from the web. This is the way it should be done. Facebook and Apple should go back to the drawing board.

Photo by Winston Edmondson